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23 April 2012
Making a Statement
Ron Artest, now formally know as Metta World Peace is a brusier. What doest this mean? He is a defense first player that isn’t afraid to get physical when his team needs it. He fits this role perfectly with the Lakers, and proved sometimes things are taken way to far. Peace is a repeat offender in the league, and his elbow to the face of James Harden warranted a suspension. But why did he decide to pull an MMA move in the NBA? Here are my 4 reasons why he swung away.
4.) Ron being Ron: Like I said before he is a repeat offender. Some people solve their frustration by yelling , maybe taking a walk. Mr. Peace does so by hurting others, just ask the guy who threw the beer at him in Detroit.
3.) Celebration gone wrong: If you watched the game you would have seen Metta telling the referee’s that he hit Harden during his elaborate celebration. Yeah he had just thrown down a massive tomahawk, but who celebrates swinging thier elbows in the air.
2.) Game plan: I’m not saying Mike Brown told Metta to hit Harden, Im saying he told him to watch him. Sometimes player like Peace don’t take the word watch to another level. Maybe Brown should pick somebody else next time to watch perennial all-stars like Harden.
1.) Jawing: There is no real way to defend what Peace did on this play, but we can assume their had to be some provoking. Harden and Peace were at it all day, going tit for tat. Maybe Artest didn’t like how Harden bodied him up on the play, so he decided to let him know with an elbow haymaker.
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13 February 2012
The NBA: “An Underdog Story”
The NBA is surrounded by talent. Just take a look at the Miami Heat who has South Beach the talk of the town parading all-stars like confetti at the Super Bowl. Players like Lebron James, Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant have been the face of the NBA for years. But as this short NBA season draws closer to the midway point, we can’t help but see this League is all about the underdog story. How so? Well take a look at my three reasons why we are seeing a different NBA.
1.) Sixers- Talk about a team without a superstar, their best player is coming off the bench. They have multiple players that can drop double digits on any team. Their team play is so inspiring; it has teams like the Bulls, Hawks and Magic wondering what happened when the Sixers come to town. It’s this team that has set the tone for the new NBA, they are proving just how good a team can be without a perennial all-star. Nobody had the Sixers in their top 5 this year, I would estimate to say not even in their top 15.
2.) Jeremy Lin: The Knicks were far from an underdog story, when you start Melo, Chandler, Stoudemire on a daily basis it’s not hard to see why. But it was obvious from the start this fire power wasn’t getting the job done. A team that was estimated to be a top 5 contender was reeling, and the fans just didn’t understand. In steps Jeremy Lin and the underdog story erupts? In Lin’s five starts he is averaging just under 27 ppg, and has his team on a 5 game win streak. This coming form a kid who played college basketball at Harvard, a D1 school where they don’t even offer an athletic scholarship. He was on three different NBA teams upon being drafted, and each year if he wasn’t riding the bench he was playing in the Developmental League. Don’t forget he is Asian-American, there hasn’t been a player this good of that ethnic background in a long time. This is the story of an underdog showing stars how to win basketball games.
3.) Lockout: Nobody expected we would be playing basketball this year after waiting over 150 days to hear some sort of resolution. The losses in money and pride for the NBA were immense, and it just didn’t seem like the black hole was getting any smaller. Players wanted more money and the owners wanted more as well. But on December 1st, the unthinkable happened and the NBA was back in action. It was the start of the underdog persona. When you thought all was lost, the unexpected saved the day.
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6 May 2011
Jonny D
Jon DeNunzio broke into the sports business at the University of Virginia writing on none other than Women’s Soccer.
He stressed the word “landscape.”
The idea of landscape is about watering you garden or tending your flower beds. It’s about being well rounded in what your profession has to offer. For example if you’re a writer you shouldn’t just be focused on your section, you should be well rounded in all aspects.
Think of it this way if you can relate with more people, its more opportunities for you to relate with someone and find a quality story.
His words were interesting but his lessons were exact. You have to be a strong person and willing work hard for what you want. It’s like that guy he spoke about who say a bomb at the Olympics. He didn’t get help or walk away, he walked right towards it.
That’s dedication.
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6 May 2011
Mr. Solomon
The guest speaker for our Sports Journalism class this afternoon was George Solomon. His vast experience as the sports editor for the Washington Post, coupled with his teaching at the University of Maryland allowed the other students in the class as well as myself to gain a great deal of important knowledge.
Solomon discussed the idea of hiring employees. He highlighted the idea and the importance of gaining experience while in college. The most important thing to learn is “how to break stories”, Solomon said.
“Always set you goals high”, was his follow up.
I have always been someone who works hard at getting valuable experience. It has proved to be more the beneficial in the long run. I know the importance of being an expert at finding good radio stories and interviews. It would be a challenge for me to lean the ins and outs of breaking a print news story.
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6 May 2011
Player, Coach, Teacher, Broadcaster
In class on Thursday we listened to a speech from Craig Esherick, former coach of Georgetown and one of the authors of our textbook “Media Relations in Sports.”
The topic of Esherick’s discussion was based on the principle of deadline. It was fitting topic for someone who had just finished writing a book.
He talked about how he did a lot of research for the book and needed to have his assigned chapters submitted on deadline.
“It was a process,” said Esherick.
That it was he was in charge of a section of the book labeled the “coaches corner” as well as the chapter on law ethics. He stressed the importance of having the ‘coaches corner” in the book as it reached a dimension that is understandable to all those involved in athletics. The coach deals with the tensions of reporters, players and sometimes even other coaches.
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6 May 2011
Zombie and we don’t mean the living dead
Mandy Jenkins was the guest at our Sports Journalism class today. She is a blogger for TMD, her blog titled zombiejournalism. She blogs about “big media” and her commitment to not liking it.
Most of the class was her teaching us about Twitter and its impact on her job. It was great to see how Twitter worked considering I don’t have an account myself. It was also great to understand how to use something that is being used by all media outlets today.
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6 May 2011
Young Gun Slinger, Communication’s style
It has always been a tale told by parents of being the best at what you do. In sports especially we see parents pushing their kids to do well at a young age. On Tuesday ours Sports Journalism class was lucky enough to meet a young uprising communication student Grant Paulsen, a young radio expert.
Grant had started early in life, helping out with a sports radio show his Uncle ran, he talked about his progression in to today.
Grant is a blogger for the Washington Redskins. His message was to be credible. He stated the real difference between radio and reporting was credibility.
He mentioned a specific quote that really sunk its teeth into your neck. It was a life lesson, that would be something I hope to carry forward.
He stated “Id rather have it best, then get it first.”
It wasn’t about getting the first story out, it was about being credible and well spoken.
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6 May 2011
An Unexpected Compliment
Today’s Sports Journalism class was for the unexpected. Our visiting speaker was Maureen Nasser AD of Communications here at George Mason University. The topic was professionalism, I felt under dressed for the topic in my jeans and ragged sweat shirt.
Ms. Nasser discussed her jobs before working GMU, her ventures with the Washington Wizards as a PR personnel. She talked about how her professionalism progressed as well as decreased as she furthered her career.
But the most surprising comment of the day was when Maureen mentioned a student in the class as being a perfect example of professionalism.
“Tyler here, is one of the most professional students as a broadcaster”, said Nasser.
It was a shock, I had no idea that people were actually noticing the many ties and slacks I had gone through over the course of the basketball season. It was satisfying to know that I had been doing the right thing, as well as hear it from someone who controls my job.
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3 May 2011
Book Review
Have you ever witnessed something so shocking, it was as if you were glued to your seat? Back in 1977 its was just one wrong move that would change the life of a basketball player and the NBA for good. It is known as the punch and is the subject of a book by John Feinstein titled “The Punch: one night, two lives and the fight that changed basketball forever.”
Feinstein chronicles the lives of both Kermit Washington and Rudy Tomjanovich as they begin to take flight in the competitive NBA. He highlights one game in which the Los Angeles Lakers are taking on the Houston Rockets. The Lakers In just a few seconds on December 9th, 1977 the lives of these two men would be enshrined in history forever. It was Lakers Kermit Washington who threw the punch that basically ended Tomjanovich’s career.
Tomjanovich recalls the night, and said “ I thought the scoreboard had fallen.” A punch thrown with that ferocity and anger had shaken the very foundations of the NBA. It eventually took a few years after that for the NBA to realize that you couldn’t let men that big and strong throw punches at each other. As of 2010 any player that attempts to punch another, even if he misses is automatically ejected and suspended.
In the book by Feinstein, he uncovers a vulnerable peace of NBA history. The book uses strong accounts from NBA player new and old to create a logical account of that night. Times are always changing, and the way the incident is perceived changes. All this is taken into account in the story of one vicious blow and its ramifications in a bittersweet world of sports.
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17 April 2011
AD Tom O’Connor Visits Sports Journalism Class
On Thursday afternoon George Mason athletic director Tom O’Connor gave a speech in front of select students of the communication department. His message furthered the idea that the mission of the university lies in its academics, not in athletics.
“You hear people say athletics is a front door of the university. That’s not true athletics is the side door and academics the front door”, said O’Connor.
In 2006 George Mason University reached the college basketball Final Four. According to O’Connor the Mason community reaped the benefits. Enrollment spiked, going from 28,000 in 2006 to 32,000 this year. Basketball became the focal point of the university’s athletic department and an incentive for those enrolling.
I respectfully disgree with our athletic director.
When O’Connor stated that athletics is a side door of the university, he was merely stating an ideal not the current situation. Students have been coming to George Mason over the past few years to be a part of a community with a Division I basketball program and still have the ability to learn.
“Basketball is the face”, said O’Connor.
Yes, it’s the face and the front door. Look at it this way, the front door is usually the first thing you see on a house. After our trip to the Final Four enrollment sky rocketed, students saw this and became interested. They were seeing basketball at the front door.
We have seen a chain reactions effect over the past few years, led by the success of the George Mason basketball team.
The equation is simple George Mason basketball provided an increase in enrollment, leading to more money for the university. The final result was expansion of both our campus and its academic program.